This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Maddox Schmidlkofer
My Story
I was on TikTok all day, so I had a good idea of what videos worked and what didn’t. I started posting my product, and my videos did pretty well—I averaged about 1,000 views per post. I kept posting daily for about a year and learned a ton about TikTok’s algorithm, accounts, how to make a great video, and how to scale.
How to Make a Great Video
Steal. That simple. Your product has already been made, I can assure you. Go find a viral or popular video and copy it word for word.1 You can’t learn everything, and why learn when someone else has already done it?
You should also try being creative and posting your own videos. Find which ones do well and double down. “Oh, X video got 200k views—I’m going to copy X video and see if I can get the same.”1
Accounts
TikTok does not like when anyone tries to game their system, so game it correctly. What I did was “hire” other people to post videos for me on accounts that are already warm.2 I also made my own accounts (don’t make more than three on the same phone—buy more phones). A lot of people like to hire UGC creators; I haven’t done that yet, so I can’t comment on it.
Scale
Scale is harder for organic TikTok. To get scale, you need more phones, more warm2 accounts, and more new3 content. Keep posting until you find a format that works for your business; then either post ads for it or make a document you can hand off to other people. I also recommend using a re-uploader that takes your TikTok videos and posts them to Shorts, Reels, etc., to help with reach.
Conclusion
Start posting daily now: you’ll gain a following and have a platform to sell your stuff.
Some extra tips:
- Post 1–2 times a day on each account.
- Check which videos bring you people and do the best—copy them.1
- It’s easier to market something if people don’t hate you for marketing it. Your product has to be cool or help people.
Good format examples
- Stats-building app: Post about discipline, memes about stats, relationship things, etc.
- Health app that tells you if foods are bad: Fear posts—scan a food people think is good but actually isn’t; walk up to someone scanning things at a store.
If you can’t think of ideas, just see what others do. Overall, TikTok is a great platform, and you’re missing out if you aren’t using it for your B2C app!
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When I say copy, I don’t mean just download their video—remake it with your own assets and face, but follow their script and cuts. Change it up a little if you want.
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A warm account is a real person’s account or one with some history of watching and interacting with videos.
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If you repost anything, TikTok will know and ban your account—don’t do it.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Maddox Schmidlkofer